19 December 2012

Fabrice
Brégier, Airbus President & CEO said last week in a meeting with media.
"We are satisfied with the past stages but there is more risk of delay
than to be in advance”. In that meeting, Brégier talked about three risk
sharing partners; the first one, British Rolls Royce, in charge of the engine
that is arriving the FAL in few weeks.

The goal is
certification by the European aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and risk mitigation.

Airbus has
identified another two suppliers (called RSP-risk sharing partners) that gives small
signs of concerns.

Spirit Aerosystems. Technical issues.

The complex
section 15 centre fuselage, produced by Spirit AeroSystems, is a critical
component. Didier Evrard said some months ago "I can't say everything is
fully bridged" regarding the production process.

Spirit
AeroSystems Inc., the largest U.S. supplier for the A350 structure, is still working
to produce parts more efficiently. CEO Jeff Turner said in a recent interview.
“It’s not going as well as I’d like”. And last month, during the presentation
of the Third Quarter 2012 Financial Results, he clearly stated: “While
new airplane programs are always challenging, I am extremely disappointed in
our management of the complexity on these programs”.

Spirit and
Airbus had said they are cooperating to meet ambitious production targets for
the aircraft and Airbus has sent its own
teams to help Spirit in difficulty, after introducing a joint improvement
program to seek “sustainable
improved delivery performance”.

Meanwhile, Spirit
AeroSystems is celebrating the completion of the 100th composite forward
fuselage section for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Based on the article
“L'Airbus A350 proche de son envol “ published in La Tribune